Did Microsoft discontinue offering all but a handful of Sidebar gadgets for the Windows Vista operating system?

RSpring,
Hello...No they are all there ...I have them on my Vista OS.. Go to... Computer>Program Files> Windows Sidebar>Gadgets ...Take a look and see what's in the folder... See my Vista Screen shot...Should look similar.... Regards Fred

PS: I'll look around and try to find where you can download the folder (Approx 14MB) Vista Gadgets

BruceR,
Hello... You can still get them and use them (Original Windows Vista Gadgets) See my previous post... You can also use all Vista Gadgets on XP, and "7", as well. I have done this to all my OS's Just requires a bit of "Tweaking" Regards Fred

PlainFred

None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free (J. W. Von Goethe)

Gadgets can also be found at their authors' web sites in many cases. Just take the names of your favorites and use them as Google Search Terms. I got updated versions of quite a few Win7 Gadgets in this way, and they work in Win8 (on the "legacy" desktop) as well. The sites are several, so I am not including my own listings here.

Monitor real estate is too valuable

For many users, there is never enough room on the monitor to put everything you want to use at a particular moment. That is why gadgets did not become popular, and why added toolbars are so disliked. Then for those of us who are aging, we like to enlarge the type and other images on the monitor which takes up more space.